Police arrest ex-employee for ‘codeine’

The police in Lagos have arrested a former employee of a pharmaceutical company, Maduike Chukwunonye, for alleged attempt to sell codeine to a correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Chukwunonye, the police alleged, also sold the drug to unauthorised persons since his disengagement from the company in May.

The suspect, alleged to have been caught on camera selling the drug to an undercover journalist, Adejuwon Soyinka, alias Mr. Nohson, was said to have tried fleeing the country when he noticed he was being hunted.

Parading the suspect yesterday, Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal said Chukwunonye had been trailed since May 1, after the pharmaceutical company reported a case of unlawful distribution of controlled substances in breach of the drug laws.

Edgal said: “The company alleged that while in its employ, the suspect had access to limited quantities of its product with codeine for the purpose of distribution to licensed retail pharmacies under his assigned territory.

“But due to his greed, the suspect knowingly supplied the controlled drugs to persons who are not supposed to have access to them, contrary to the dictates of the laws.

“He has been on the run since May, but was eventually arrested at Idi-Iroko border, Ogun State, by operatives of Area ‘D’ Command while he tried to flee to Cotonou in Benin Republic.

“In his statement, he averred that he was only trying to meet his sale target and that the BBC man was introduced to him by one Pascal as a genuine businessman without verifying the former’s identity as a pharmacist. He regretted selling the controlled substances to unauthorised persons.”